This invention generally relates to tissue handling and preparation of tissue for biological analysis, and in particular embodiments provides methods, devices, and systems using labeled punch tubes in the preparation of tissue microarrays and microarray slides, for tissue sample archiving, for correlating pathology, histology, and other biological test results with specific source tissues through intermediary tissue configurations, and the like.
Punch tubes are often used to obtain samples of tissue specimens for biological testing. The tissue specimens are often removed surgically from patients, and punch tubes can help to separate a desired sample of the tissue which is appropriate for the planned test from the remaining tissue specimen. In many cases, a thin section or slice of a tissue sample from the punch tube is placed on a glass slide or other test substrate.
Glass slides are widely used in biological analysis of punch tissues, and the use of biological analysis of tissue slides is likely to grow tremendously in the future. The expanding range of analytical techniques that can be applied to tissue slides and the increasing use of these techniques for studying, diagnosing, and monitoring disease states may challenge the current capacity of laboratories to accurately prepare tissue slides, to reliably handle large numbers of test tissues, and to document the sources of these test tissues.
To increase the throughput of tissue analysis techniques and decrease the resources dedicated to each analytical test, slides are being prepared with a number of individual test tissues on each slide. Typically, several tissue punch samples are embedded in a paraffin block, and the block is sectioned into thin slices. The individual slices are placed onto glass slides, and the slides are then subjected to microscopic examination or other testing procedures. For example, the slides can be used for diagnosis based on cell morphology and staining characteristics of the samples. Further, it is possible to evaluate multi-sample slides with histological approaches such as in situ hybridization for genetic studies, immunochemistry for antigen (e.g. protein) studies, and the like. A large (and growing) number of alternative techniques have been and are now being developed to test tissues on glass slides and other substrates.
By placing more samples on each slide, it is often possible to analyze more tissues in parallel. Such multi-tissue slides are also amenable to high throughput analysis, and it is possible to study collections of normal and/or diseased tissues in a single experiment. Practical applications of multi-sample slides range from diagnostics to drug target validation to a host of other uses. Through the use of precision instrumentation, it has become possible to construct multi-sample slides containing large numbers of samples in defined locations. These slides are sometimes called tissue microarrays, and have been prepared using a number of different techniques.
While known tissue microarray preparation techniques have achieved varying levels of success in allowing labs to handle tissues for testing, the currently available methods may generally suffer from deficiencies that have limited their use. For example, many involve time consuming, labor intensive, and highly repetitious processing steps that can introduce errors and inaccuracies. At least some of these methods could lead to cross contamination between samples, and/or degradation of tissues between specimen removal and the biological tissue testing. Some or all of these methods may lack adequate flexibility and security for selectively handling tissues from a variety of sources and preparing them for any of a number of different tests, some of which tests (for example) need not be performed until long after the associated specimens have been removed from the patient and results from initial tests on tissue samples from the specimen have been obtained.
In light of the above, it would be desirable to have improved methods, devices, and systems for the efficient handling of tissues for biological testing, preparation of tissue microarrays and other tissue test-related articles, and test tissue tracking.